J J DESMOND INTERIORS

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Welcome

HARRODS:- I was commissioned, at the request of the fashion departments, to design and build the entire front and side window scheme. HUGE job..hugely enjoyable (see also RETAIL). What now appears to be a simple, interiors based, scheme with clean lines, was at the time revolutionary for Harrods. We fought through so many arguments trying to get some of the display team and some of the old guard to see things in a different way! The back walls had layered, subtle washes applied to them, worked on through three nights by my team, to be rewarded in the "official Harrods work report" (man with a clipboard) with the words "paintwork patchy throughout"! The walls stayed and the scheme became the most successful in Harrods history; the report is framed and hangs on the wall of my business partner's office.

Below is a selection of window props and schemes produced for various shops across Britain, Japan and Hong Kong. The idea was that they should never look like standard window display.

A series of Man Ray boxes measuring approximately 360mm x 360mm, about 140(?) in total, which were formed into walls or hung to form a screen in selected Central London shop windows. These were then sold on individually or in blocks by Woodhouse to be hung in various trendy pads.